VATICAN The Pope approved the “heroic virtues” of Sister Lucia of Fatima

Francisco signed the decree that represents the first step towards the beatification of the Carmelite who died in 2005. The other two visionaries of the Marian apparitions of 1917 -Jacinta and Francisco- had already been proclaimed blessed by John Paul II. On August 5, the pontiff will be in Fatima with the sick young people.

Vatican City () – The Pope today approved the publication of the decree recognizing the “heroic virtues” of Sister Lucía dos Santos (1907-2005), the visionary who, together with Jacinta and Francisco Marto – already proclaimed blessed by John Paul II- witnessed the apparitions of the Virgin in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917. This is a stage of the beatification process for which the approval of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Sister Lucia is still required.

The decree on heroic virtues was made public after the audience that Francis granted to Card. Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Department for the Causes of Saints. Lucía dos Santos, who after that extraordinary experience had become a Carmelite nun, taking the name of Sister María Lucía de Jesús y del Corazón Immaculate, thus became Venerable. She died on February 13, 2005, at the age of 97, after having spent several decades in seclusion in the Carmelite convent of Coimbra.

“With the approval of the heroic virtues,” the promoters of the beatification commented in a note, “the cause receives a new impetus. We ask all those who feel touched by the Light of Jesus, which is reflected in their lives, to appeal to her with faith and trust, so that God grants us the miracle so longed for”.

Today’s news comes a few days before Francis’s visit to Fatima on August 5, as part of his trip to Portugal for World Youth Day in Lisbon. In Fatima, the pontiff will pray the Rosary with young sick people in the Chapel of the Apparitions of the sanctuary.